President Bhandari to reappoint KP Sharma Oli as PM

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari is set to reappoint CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli to the post of prime minister since the opposition parties including the main opposition Nepali Congress and CPN Maoist Centre, and JSP-N failed to forge an alliance to form a government. 

The timeframe given by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to form a new government, after PM Oli lost a trust vote in the House of Representatives, has ended at 9:00 pm today.

As per Article 76 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal, the president can appoint the leader of the largest party in the Parliament as the prime minister.

Since PM Oli lost the vote of confidence, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Chairperson of Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal Upendra Yadav had issued a statement urging President Bhandari to call for the formation of a majority government as per Article 76 (2) of the Constitution.

According to UML leader Subas Chandra Nembang, PM Oli will not claim the majority government.

It has to be noted that the prime minister appointed through Article 76 (3) also has to win the vote of confidence of the House within 30 days of the date of appointment.

At present, CPN UML is the largest party in the Parliament. CPN-UML has 121 parliamentarians, NC 63 (two suspended), CPN-MC 49 (four suspended), JSP 34 (two suspended), and the Rastriya Janamorcha, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party have one each. There is also one independent parliamentarian.

Meanwhile, talks held between CPN-UML Chair Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal ended on a positive note, thereby averting an imminent split in the party.

At the meeting held in Budhanilakantha, the two leaders agreed to resolve the differences through the formation of a task force.

Talking to mediapersons following the meeting, leader Nepal said deliberations will continue to withdraw the March 12 decision and take the party back to the state of 2018, May 16. "We are now headed towards a solution. A task force will be formed and things will be decided based on consensus," he said.

It may be noted that the Madhav Nepal-led faction MPs had decided to resign from their post to pave the way for the opposition parties to form the next government.

Prior to this, the UML Standing Committee meeting this morning had decided to withdraw the suspension on leaders Nepal, Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Ghanashyam Bhusal and Surendra Prasad Pandey. UML Chair was also given the authority to make appropriate decisions by holding discussion to resolve the differences in the party.